Superheater installation



May 10, 1932. 0, ENGLER 1,858,143

SUPERHEA'IER INSTALLATION Filed Oct. 29, 1950 4 ShetsSheet 1 /n venfor':

May 10, 1932. o. ENGLER SUPERHEATER INSTALLATION Filed Oct. 29, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 In venfor: owin /@1- y A #0 rn ey May 10, 1932. ENGLER 1,858,143

SUPERHEATER INSTALLATION Filed Oct. 29, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 3

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QNEQQL A Tierney Ma lO, 1932. Q N LER 1,858,143

SUPERHEATER INSTALLATION Filed Oct. 29, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 38 m Fig. 5

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Patented May 10, 193.2

, UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE OTTO ENGLER, or KASSEL-WILHELMSHOHE, ennmmvjassrenonsYivinsnn ASSIGN- MENTS, T T m surnmmarna eomramr, or'nnw Yo-Rx, N. Y.

SUPERHEATER INSTALLATION 7 Application filed October 29, 1930, Serial No. 492,039,1and in Germany N ovember 9, 192 9.

The present invention relates to the mounting of superheaters in boiler installations and more particularly to the mounting of super- I heaters inthe flues of steam locomotives which join the fire box and which are formed of walls of water tubes. I

It is old to mount superheaters in such Hues in locomotives having water tube boilers and fire boxes built up of water tubes, but

heretofore the superhe ater elements have been built into the fines from their sides, either in pocket like formations of the water tubes constituting the side walls of the fines, or in such manner that the supreheating tubes pass between these water tubes, the latter being correspondingly spaced to make this permissible. T his insertion of the superheaters from the sides of the tines results in the advantage that the headers are easily accessible and the arrangement is such that the insertion and removal of the superheaters may be readily accomplished. However, this arrangement presents its disadvantages, among which might be noted the fact that it is diiiicult to make that side from which the superheater has been inserted gas tight and properly in sulate d to avoid heat losses. Moreover, the superheaters take up space which might otherwise be provided with water tubes thereby to increase the evaporating surface of the installation.

These disadvantages may be overcome by inserting the superheater into the flue from or below, rather than from its sides, whereby the u') side walls of the flue may be formed cont1nuously and without a. break, but difliculties are experienced in making such an arrangement practicable because of the presence of the axles of the locomotive which interfere with the removal and insertion of the superheaters. The presentinvention avoids all the disadvantages and overcomes the diiiiculties mentioned above. It contemplates a con- E- struction in which superheater tubes which extend into the fine from below and are connected by headers lyingat the bottom of the fine, are constructed and arranged in groups r or such dimensions that each group maybe inserted and removed from below between the verserigidity and the connections can be so chosen that the flow of steam will be opposite to that of the heating gases. However, the headers can be arranged longitudinally of the locomotive frame,'if necessary, and in which case th ey must be braced by means of cross bracesf According to the present in vention the headers are carried on supports running longitudinally -of the locomotive frame and upon which a superheater group lying above a wheel may be shifted.

Inthe drawings, which are illustrative of the invention, Fig. 1 isa longitudinal section through a locomotive in which is eml'iodied one form of the invention 'Fig. 2 is a transverse section on'line,II-H ,OfFig .1;

I Fig. is a detailed viewfshowing the superheater construction appearing in Fig. 1, to a larger scale;

' Fig. 4 is abottom plan of the structure shown in Fig.3,"

Fig. 5 discloses a modified form of the invention in a view corresponding to Fig. 3

Fig. 6 is ahorizontal section along line VIVI of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical section along line VII-VII of Fig.5.

Insofar as the present invention is concerned, it is immaterial whether or not'the steam in the locomotiveisgeneratedby direct or indirect heating of the water in the boiler drum, but in the, locomotive shown in the drawings, theheatir'igv of the drum is indirect. The evaporating tubes of the water. tube axle of the locomotive boileij'in which the heating steam is generated for the indirect heating of the water in the drum'l, surround the fire box and a heating fine :bu'ilt'as a continuation of the fire box. In the rear part of the flue, adjacent the the box, the walls of the flue are formed by evaporating tubes 2 and in addition there are other evaporating tubes 3 distributed over the cross section of the flue. In the fore part of the flue the only evaporating tubes are the tubes 41, arranged at the sides to form the walls, for it is in this part of the flue that the superheater is built in. Theevaporating tubes of the fire box and adjoining flue are connected at their lower ends to Water head ers 5 and attheir upper ends to intermediate headers 6. ThenumeralS designates down flow pipes connecting the intermediate headers 6 with the water headers -5,-and lying outside of the walls consisting of the closely arranged evaporating tubes; From the intermediate headers 6, the heating steam flows to the heating elements 9 located within the water space of the drum'l. The condensate forming in the members of these heating elements is. returned to headers 5 by means of conduits 10 and 11 (Fig. '1)'. In front of the superheaters and in the pathof the combustion products passing to the smoke chamber 12, there is located a smoke tube feed water heater 13 from which preheated water flows into the steam drum 1. The means for doing this are not shown, nor are other, detailed features concerning the construction of the feed Water heater or the heating of the boiler drum since the present invention concerns itself with .the superheating arrangement.

The superheater shown is divided into three groups. Each group comprises .tWo headers and a plurality of looped tubes connecting them. The headers 14 and 15 and their loops 16 form the intermediate superheater group, while the headers 18 and 19 and their loops 30 form the rear group, and the headers 21 and 22 and their loops 23 form the forward group. The headers. are. located at the bottom of the flue which is open from below and they have the form of hollow cross beams lying at right anglesto the longitudinal beams 24 of the locomotive frame. The tube loops pass upwardly from the headers into the heating flue either in the form of single loops as shown in the front and rear groups or in the form of a plurality of loops as shown in the intermediate group. The ends of the headers rest on rails formed of angle irons 25 to which they are screwed or bolted. These angle irons, which are divided longitudinally, are removably secured to the continuous rails 26 which in turn aresupported 011 slide rails'2T resting on the longitudinal beams 24 of the locomotive frame. If expansion takesplace due to heating, a relative sliding of the rails 26 and 27 ,will take place and there will thus be a longitudinal shifting between the supported parts and the locomotive frame. V: i.

The intermediate ..and, rear superheater groups are connected in series-and for this purpose, the header 15 of the intermediate group is connected with the header 18 of the rear group by means of a bridging header 30. The steam generated in the drum 1 passes through a conduit 31 into the header 14 of the intermediate superheater group,

thence through the tube loops 16 which are connected in parallel to the header 15, and through the bridging header into the header 18 of the rear group, from which it passes through the parallel connected tube loops 2() and finally reaches the header 19 in highly; heated condition, From the header 19 the steam is led through conduit 32 into the high pressure cylinders of the engine. The exhaust from the high pressure cylinders passes through a conduit 33 into the header 21 of the front superheater group, and thence through tube loops 23 to the header 21 from where it passes through a conduit 34 to the low pressure cylinders of the engine. i

That part of the heating flue which contains the superheaters is closed at the bottom by ash box 35 provided with trap doors 36 and the solid matter such as ashes, clinker-s and the like, which is carried forward with the flue gases, can drop through the open spaces of the superheaters into this ash box. Since the superheaters are built in and removed from below, the ash box 35 and the connections lying below the super-heater are removed when the superheaters are to be taken out, as for repair, or inserted. As clearly shown in the drawings, the dimensions of the front and rear superheater groups are such that these can be removed.

downwardly without any difficulty through the space between the longitudinal beams of the locomotive frame and clear of the wheel axle 37 after the corresponding sections of angle rail 25 have been unbolted or disconnected from rails 26.

In order to also effect removal of the intermediate superheater group, it is necessary to first'shift it longitudinally of the locomotive frame. If the rear superheater group has been removed, for instance, the headers 14 and 15 of the intermediate group are disconnected from the angle irons 25 and this group is then pushed rearwardly on the angle irons until the header 14 no longer $7 lies over the axle 37 whereupon the corresponding portions of the rails 25 are disconnected from the rails 26 and the intermediate superheater group can be moved downward, clear of the axle and between the longitudinal beams 24. a

The modification of the superheater arrangement shown in Figs. 5 to 7 differs from the one describedabove principally in the feature that the headers of the superheater groups are arranged longitudinally of the locomotive frame rather than transversely thereof, wherefore the tube loops lie in planes trausversely of the frame. The superheaters areal-ranged in three groups-as in the modification first discussed, and the dimensions oi the groups are such that they can be inserted and removed from below without the necessity of removing the locomotive wheel axles. The front and rear groups can be removed between the longitudinal beams of the frame and clear of the axle 37 without any difliculty as will be apparent from Figs. 5, 6 and 7, but the intermediate group must first be shifted longitudinally.

In order to give the super-heaters the necessary transverse rigidity, the oppositely arranged headers 40, 41 and 42 of the three groups are connected with transverse braces 44. The means for supporting the superheaters on the longitudinals 24 of the locomotive frame are identical with those described in connection with the modification wherein theheaders are mounted transversely of the locomotive frame. For this reason the corresponding parts, viz. the angle rails 25, supporting rails 26 and the slide rails 27 have been designated with the same reference numerals in Figs. 57 as in Figs. 1-4.

In order to conduct the steam in counter current relation to the flue gases, the headers 40, 41 and 42 are provided with partition walls 45, 46, 47 so that the tube loops of these groups are not all in parallelbut are connected in groups in series. However, any particular manner of conducting the steam through the superheaters may be'employed. Moreover the number of super-heating groups to be employed is also a matter of choice. The number could be greater than three and in this case the groups would be preferably arranged in series as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 where the intermediate and rear super-heater groups are connected by means of a bridging header 30 and as shown in Figs. 5 to 7 where the intermediate and rear groups are connected in series by means of a bridging header 48.

Depending upon the particular system desired to be employed, the individual superheater groups may be used to superheat the live steam coming from the boiler drum or to reheat steam which has already given up some of its energy in the system. For instance. in the construction shown in Figs. 5 to 7 the live steam coming from the boiler through conduit 49 becomes superheated in the intermediate and rear groups which are connected together. This superheated live steam coming from the rear group need not be led to the high pressure stage of the engine, as stated in connection with the modification shown in Figs. 1 to 4, but may be used as heating steam in an inter-stage superheater. For this purpose a conduit 50 is shown which leads to an interstage superheater not shown), which could be arranged in the smoke chamber and wherein the exhaust from a high pressure stage of the engine could be indirectly heated by the highly superheated heating steam. Conduit 51 is a return for the heating steam from the interstage superheater to the front superheater group wherein: this steanris again highly superheated and passed through conductor 52 to the hi h pressure stage of the engine.

Having (escribed my invention, what I new claim as new and desire'tosecure by Letters Patent of the United. States is as follows:' I 1 1. The combination with a locomotive having-a fame including longitudinal beams, wheel axles, a boiler provided with allfirc box and an adjoining flue having walls formedof water tubes, of a superheater group hZlVlDgillbQS extending into said flue and having headerslying at the bottom of the flue, said superheater group having dimensions of suchrelation to those of the locomotive frame that it may be moved betweenthe longitudinal beamsof said frame clear of the locomotive wheel axles, whereby thesuperheater group may be insertedand removed while the locomotive wheel axles are in position. e

2.. The combination with a locomotive having a frame including longitudinal carrying beams, wheel axles. a fire box,-and a fine having walls formed of water tubes adjoining the fire box,'ot a plurality of. supports connected to the longitudinal beams and pro jecting inwardly therefrom, a superheater group comprising headers and connecting tubes, said superheater tubes projecting into the the from belowand said headers resting on'the aforesaid supports at the bottom of the flue, the tubes and headers of saidsuperheater group having. dimensions ofsuclrrelation. to those of the locomotive frame that the group may be moved betweenthelongi tudinal beams of the frame clear ofthe wheel axles. said group being adapted to beishifted longitudinally of the frame uponsaid supports to aposit-ion-on the beams remote from the wheel axles. i

3. The combination with a locomotive having a frame including longitudinal beams,

wheel axles, a boiler provided with a fire box and an 1l(l]0lll1l1g flue having-walls formed of water tubes, of a snperheater group havbeams, a fire box, and a flue havingywalls formed of water tubes in communication with the fire box, of. a plurality of superheater groups each comprising-headers connected by tubes, the tubes of each of said groups extending into said flue from below," and means detachably connected to the longitudinal carrying beams for supporting said headers at thebottom of the fluefeach of the superheater groups having dimensions of such relation to those of the locomotive frame that it is capableof movementbetween the longitudinal beams clear ofthewheel axles, said groups being adapted to be shifted longitudinally of the frames while their. tubes are projecting into the flue, whereby "a' group normally positioned above a wheel axle may be moved clear thereof and passed between the longitudinal carrying beams. 1 v

5. The combination with a locomotive havinga frame including longitudinal carrying Y:

beams, spaced wheel axles carryingr said beams, a fire box, and a flue having Walls formed of water tubes in communication with the tire box, of a plurality of longitudinally separated supporting members detachably connected to each of said carrying beams and having supporting surfaces extending into the space between the beams, and aplurality of superheaterigroups each having headers and connecting tubes projecting into said flue from below, the headers resting on said supporting surfaces betweenthe beams, each group having dimensions of such relation to those of the locomotive frame that it is capable of movement between the beams clear of'the wheel axles, said groups being movable longitudinally of the frame on said supporting surfaces, whereby a group normally positioned above an axle'may be moved clear thereof and then passed between the longitudinal beams.

6. A structure as claimed in in the headers are of the frame. I

7. A structure as claimedin claim 5 whereclaim'l Wherepositioned longitudinally .in the headers are positioned longitudinally of the frame in oppositely disposed pairs laid end to end, each pair being connected by cross braces.

- 8. A structureas claimed in claim 1 where in there is a removable ash box positioned below the superheater group. v 1 v 9. A structure as claimed in claim 5 wherein the supporting members comprise'lengths of angle iron positioned end to endand connected to each beam.-

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature.

OTTO ENGLER. 

